Paul Babinski

Assistant Professor

Paul Babinski studies the intersection between the history of Christian-Muslim relations and material religion. His work focuses on scholarly practices and the manuscript transmission of religious and literary texts from Islamic Eurasia into Central and Western Europe from the medieval Arabic-Latin translation movement to the emergence of the modern disciplines of oriental studies in the nineteenth century. 

He is currently writing a book on the history of reading and translating the Qur’an in Europe, based on a survey of annotated manuscripts and printed editions. Recent publications include a contribution for the Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an on the history of non-Muslim Qur’an translation in Europe, a study of the use of looted manuscripts and Muslim captives in European Qur’anic study, an article on the formation of the first German Islamic manuscript collections, a case-study in the seventeenth-century European reception of Qur’anic exegesis, and a reconstruction of the role of Ottoman philology in the development of European Persian studies.

Education:

Ph.D., Princeton University

M.A., University of Colorado - Boulder

B.A., University of Colorado - Boulder

Selected Publications:

“The Orientalist Turn to Tafsīr: Abraham Wheelock’s Qur’an”, Christian Readings of Muslim Exegetical Sources in Interreligious Perspective, ed. Ulisse Cecini. (forthcoming)

(with Jan Loop) “Non-Muslim European Translations of the Qur’an, 1143-1850”, Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an (2025) 

(with Jan Loop) “Looting and Learning: War and the Qur’an in European Oriental Studies”, Erudition and the Republic of Letters 9(3) (2024), 239-280.

“The Qur’an as Turkish Booty (Türkenbeute)”, in The European Qur’an, edited by Jan Loop and Naima Afif. Berlin: De Gruyer, 2024, 55-65. 

“The Manuscript Catalog.” in Taking Stock: Media Inventories in the German Nineteenth Century, edited by Sean Franzel, Ilinca Iurascu, and Petra S. McGillen. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2024, 217-225. 

“The Formation of German Islamic Manuscript Collections in the Seventeenth Century.” In Sammler—Bibliothekare—Forscher: Zur Geschichte der orientalischen Sammlungen an der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, edited by Sabine Mangold-Will, Christoph Rauch, and Siegfried Schmitt. Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann, 2022, 19-44. 

“Ottoman Philology and the Origin of Persian Studies in Western Europe: The Gulistān’s Orientalist Readers.” Lias, Journal of Early Modern Intellectual Culture and its Sources 46(2) (2019), 233-315. 

 

Tom Schulman, "Dead Poets Society" screenwriter, visits Dr. J. Derrick Lemons' Class

Image: From left, Tom Schulman, Professor Derrick Lemons and students take a selfie. Photo by Gareth Rose.
By: Mianna Lotshaw

Greeted by a round of applause from a class full of students, "Dead Poets Society" screenwriter and Academy Award winner Tom Schulman visited UGA on April 10. Schulman was interviewed by religion professor and department head Derrick Lemons about his process writing the film and his experiences in the movie industry as a part of Lemons’ Anthropology of American Religion course.

RELI 4008/6008

Jewish Myths and Legends
Credit Hours:
3

Exploration of the boundaries between Scripture and tradition by examining stories in the Hebrew Bible and comparing them with their subsequent interpretation and re-tellings in later Jewish communities. We will also look at other legendary stories from within the 3000-year tradition of Jewish literature.

Level:
Graduate
Undergraduate

Fall 2024 Undergraduate Events

Religion students sit around a conference table painting pumpkins

The Religion Ambassadors have organized several community-building events for Religion majors and minors this fall. To welcome students back for the new school year, they hosted a taco party picnic in September. In October, they arranged a pumpkin painting party. Additionally, with the addition of a new coffee machine in the department, the Ambassadors have been holding a monthly coffee and doughnuts event for students and faculty.

2024-2025 Religion Ambassadors

Religion Ambassadors standing in front of a hedge outside Peabody Hall.

Five students have been selected to serve as Religion Ambassadors for the Department of Religion throughout the 2024-2025 academic year. Congratulations to Meagan McColloch, Ailey Gustafson, Ian Roberts, Sammy Gary, and Mary Margaret Woods. The Ambassadors plan and organize community-building events for our majors and minors, advertise our program through social media, and recruit new UGA students into our program. We are grateful for their hard work and dedication in leading the Religion department.

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